In this March 24 photo, medical staff members check a ventilator in protective suits at the care unit for the new COVID-19 infected patients inside the Koranyi National Institute of Pulmonology in Budapest. As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can. 
                                 Zoltan Balogh | MTI via AP, File

In this March 24 photo, medical staff members check a ventilator in protective suits at the care unit for the new COVID-19 infected patients inside the Koranyi National Institute of Pulmonology in Budapest. As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can.

Zoltan Balogh | MTI via AP, File

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Luzerne County has a much higher rate of hospitalizations involving the use of mechanical ventilation — machines breathing for the ill — than the state rate, according to a new study. Among the state’s 67 counties, Luzerne’s rate is the fifth highest.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for ventilators to treat some patients stricken with the virus, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council reviewed the number of hospitalizations involving ventilators, and calculated the use per 10,000 residents in each county.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role mechanical ventilators play in the management of severe respiratory illness,” the report, released Wednesday, said. The Council looked at hospitalizations involving a ventilator for patients discharged from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 — before the pandemic began. It defined a mechanical ventilator as “a machine that does the work of breathing for a patient by delivering oxygen into the lungs and helping to remove carbon dioxide.”

Statewide, there were 33.4 cases of ventilator hospitalizations per 10,000 residents. In Luzerne County, the rate was 45. While four other counties had higher rates, at least two of those — Cameron and Sullivan Counties — were almost definitely skewed upward by low populations.

For example, Luzerne County, with about 317,000 residents, had 1,429 hospitalizations involving ventilators, for the 45 per 10,000 rate. By comparison, Cameron County had only 35 such hospitalizations, but has a population of fewer than 4,500, which dramatically raises the per-10,000 calculation to almost 80.

Sullivan County had an even lower total of hospitalizations with ventilators, 28. But with a population of about 6,000, the rate per 10,000 residents was 46.1.

Excluding Cameron County, the highest rate in the state was Philadelphia County at 47.7.

Some other findings in the brief:

• Older patients are far more likely to require ventilators. Among those 65-84, the rate was 82 per 10,000. For those 85 or older, the rate was 91.1.

• Blacks are more likely to require ventilators than whites or Hispanics. For Blacks, the rate was 53.2 per 10,000, while for the other two it was 31.7 and 16.8 respectively.

• Men are more likely to end up on ventilators than women. The rate for males was 37.5 per 10,000; the rate for females was 29.4.

• Perhaps not surprisingly, patients on ventilators stay in the hospital longer, averaging 12.6 days compared to 4.6 for all other patients. The in-hospital mortality rate is also much higher, 25.9% for those put on ventilators compared to 1.1% for all other patients.

• About 24% of adult patients on ventilators had a diagnosis of infectious pneumonia. “Future analysis comparing the rates of mechanical ventilator use for patients with infectious pneumonia versus those with COVID-19 related pneumonia will provide insight into the severity of illness associated with each type of pneumonia.”

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish